Our previous buttons had 4 3M strips attaching them to put word board. My oldest gets excited when using his words, and often scoops them out of their spot. Has anyone had a good solution for keeping them in place?

Hi!
So we've had a breakthrough last night thanks to target training, and I think Flint is now in stage 2: he pushed the button 6 times already today, and he knows pushing the button means he can go outside, he definitely pushes it with purpose. After about a month of modeling it, I'm kind of amazed at how fast it went between last night's first tentative push and today!
Thing is, he doesn't really push the button, it's more of a light tap, like he does in the above video.
Now that he understands and uses his first button I'm thinking of adding new words, but I wish he would fully press his button to activate the sound.
I'm worried his inability to fully press them will hinder his progress, as it will be difficult to differenciate between buttons. Also, it is hard for me to react when I can't here him pushing the buttons.
Do any of you have any tips on how to get your learner to fully press a button? I have the LR buttons.
I've seen some people talk about putting symbols on their buttons to help their learner differenciate them better so I'm thinking of doing that and go on with new the next words.
 

🌟 progress 🌟

[caption: vidéo du chat qui tape sur un buzzer pour recevoir des friandises. il y a un post-it collé sur le buzzer. j'ai coupé le son mais je lui dit juste "tape" en touchant le buzzer] pic.twitter.com/uOmpYODNxo

— Haviland Tuf (@flxnt_in_space) April 17, 2021

As I was getting Rusty (dog) ready for his morning walk, I heard "outside." I looked down and saw Miles (cat). My initial response was "no, you're not going outside" but I realized he might have been narrating our morning routine as not that soon after, I pressed the outside button and grabbed the leash. 

Also, Rusty hasn't been using the buttons since I recently added a couple and moved the board. So it's especially interesting that Miles did this.

I just modelled "Anthea Couch" and got onto the couch to show Bones that the button with my name on it means me. Previously when I've done "Anthea Bones Couch" and gone to the couch he's jumped up as soon as I've sat down. This time he didn't. 

Does that mean he understands that I was referring to just me? 🤯

Even though I'm using the buttons I'm still sceptical about how much they can understand and do with the buttons. Then we have moments like this and it blows my mind!

Clyde prefers to scratch and claw at the buttons so I was wondering if putting the board up low on the wall it might encourage him to use his nose more? (He might use his nose one in every 100 presses so I know he’s got the idea).
Any other recommendations for teaching him to press more gently is appreciated!

Teddy is most chatty/needy in the evening. As a result we have the buttons in the bedroom. At first I thought that he was accidentally pushing buttons in the dark but it appears now that it is purposeful. Last night on 3 separate occasions I heard him press car. To be perfectly honest I didn’t sleep well so I was up quite a bit so it wasn’t the buttons waking me. 

I have 2 scenarios in my head for why he is pushing car 

#1: I was restless/awake and he was wondering if we could go for a car ride

#2: it was Sunday night/Monday morning and he was wondering if I was waking up to go to work (basically if I was going in the car)

Has anyone dealt with this? Should I not have the buttons where he sleeps? Do you think there are other options for this communication? 

Hi everyone,

We started with the buttons about 6 weeks ago! Logan seems to understand several buttons, and is pretty great at targeting when I ask him to push a specific button and point to it.... But he had not yet just wandered over and asked for something. I'm kind of curious how long pups take to get to that stage, and if there are any pups that kind of seemed to be lagging but then got it? Logan is 4 years old.

https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=QEGd9tBpzUmYfk3kobDYEUpN9cLxr0FGu2B3xgDvvutUQTBSVjBFWVVTTkpINk1HR1AwSzc0QVQ0WS4u

Please answer using the survey linked above, no login or email needed

It would be super appreciated if you answered the 2 minute survey above to help me collect data about the success of teaching buttons to your dogs.

I am a 14 year old girl, doing a project titled "To what extent can dogs communicate to humans through aided AAC?". This project is for my GCSE exam, called a HPQ - "higher project qualification" (sort of like a high school exam) and I chose to do it due to my insane love for dogs and curiosity about animal behavior and teaching/using buttons. My project consists of a 2000 word essay, a presentation, and a Q&A.

Since this field is so new, I have little data about the true extent of the use of buttons. So, I would love to know how many buttons your dog knows how to use, how long you've been teaching them, if they know any abstract concepts such as "stranger", feelings, or time and any other interesting facts you think could be beneficial to my project! This is really appreciated :)

Big thank you to anyone who contributes to my quick survey and have a lovely day. Pls like the post for exposure!

 Kellie  ,  Bunny_AlexisD  ,  Leo : I hope you see this!
This is for my private academic use only, completely anonymous.

**We initially started trying to teach her back in November but she never picked it up so we gave it up after two weeks. This time, she learned her first word in one day. She's been picking them up so quickly that we're out of buttons and ordering more.

Number of Words: 4